State Oks new school in Lubbock

Published: Saturday, November 14, 1998

MARY ALICE ROBBINSMorris News Service

AUSTIN - The State Board of Education on Friday approved 15 charter schools - including one proposed in Lubbock - but agreed to ask the Legislature to hold off authorizing additional charters until existing ones can be properly evaluated.

"All we're asking the Legislature to do is give us an opportunity to take a good deep breath and evaluate the charters," said board member Joe Bernal, DSan Antonio.

Charter schools receive tax dollars based on their enrollment but aren't subject to all the state regulations that apply to public schools.

The Legislature authorized the board to approve the state's first 20 charter schools in 1995. Last year, lawmakers approved 100 more open enrollment charter schools and an unlimited number of charters for schools that target at-risk students.

With the charters approved Friday, a total of 158 such schools have been approved by the board. Sixty-five of the schools are operating and serve about 11,250 students around the state, according to the Texas Education Agency.

Board Chairman Jack Christie, R-Houston, predicted that some charter schools will fail and said the board will be held responsible for those failures.

But board member Randy Stevenson, R-Tyler, said discouraging charters would be "a subtle encouragement for vouchers."

The Legislature is expected next year to consider proposals to provide taxpayer-funded vouchers to pay for students in low-performing public schools to attend private schools.

Also Friday, the board approved 15 of the 30 charters sought by the Eagle Project, a not-for-profit group that plans to set up high-technology centers adjacent to public schools to work with at-risk students. One of the centers is expected to open next fall in Lubbock.

Linus Wright, one of three longtime educators involved with the group, said traditional approaches in education aren't working with disadvantaged students and that the one-on-one approach planned at the centers is the only way to reach them.

"Texas has a personal and moral responsibility to ensure that every one of these young people receives a sound education," said Wright, who was formerly superintendent of Dallas schools and an assistant superintendent in Lubbock.

Wright said the centers will provide computer-assisted instruction and that students will be able to work at their own pace. As proposed, each center initially will serve about 50 students.

The Eagle Project center is the fourth charter school that has been approved for Lubbock.